Angry Trump Forces Mattis Out Early, Names Former Boeing Exec As Acting SecDef
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Sun, 12/23/2018
As if President Trump’s stream of tweets defending his decision to pull US troops from Syria – and his lashing out at the apoplexy of th US military establishment – didn’t clearly communicate Trump’s anger over the resignation of Defense Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis (who said in his resignation letter that the Syria decision was the last straw), President Trump tweeted Sunday that he had appointed Patrick Shanahan, Mattis’s deputy and a former Boeing exec, to serve as the acting Secretary of Defense, effectively confirming reports that he was pushing to terminate Mattis immediately, ahead of the Feb. 28 departure date that Mattis had set out in his letter.
Trump then acknowledged his conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which reportedly inspired him to withdraw troops.
Earlier, CBS and the New York Times reported that Trump was preparing to push out Mattis by the end of the year, ahead of the agreed-upon Feb. 28 departure date that Mattis had included in his letter.
The NYT reported that Trump told administration officials that he would try and force Mattis out before the new year, a sign that he is furious over the days of news coverage characterizing Mattis’s departure as a rebuke of Trump’s reckless foreign policy. Trump reportedly wants to replace Mattis with Patrick M. Shanahan, Mattis’s deputy, as the acting defense secretary while he finishes his search for a permanent replacement.
The departure is hardly a surprise, Trump had been tweeting critical messages about Mattis and Brett McGurk, a top national security official who resigned after Mattis.
The Rest…HERE
